Plum To The Rescue
by ewal32
Summary: What happens when our hero Ranger finds himself in an impossible situation? Stephanie is used to Ranger coming to her rescue and now it's her turn to help. Will Stephanie find him before it's too late? Ideas are mine but all characters, names, & places belong to the fabulous Janet Evanovich. **NOTE FOR THE READERS - THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE REVIEWS SO READ THEM AT YOUR OWN RISK**
1. Chapter 1

Plum To The Rescue 02/05/2019

**Chapter 1 – Ranger**

Ranger awoke in complete darkness. His first thought was I must be dead. His second thought was no way I'm dead because death cannot be this painful. He was laying on something smooth, hard, and vey cold. A rock ledge maybe?

He slowly sat up and waited for the dizziness and nausea to pass. His head was pounding. He gingerly touched his hand to his temple and felt a trickle of blood. Probably a concussion, he thought. He had a stabbing pain in his side and felt a large gash near his ribcage. Maybe a couple of cracked ribs. Ok, so far, not terrible.

He felt around on the floor of whatever he was sitting on – no phone, no flashlight, nothing but loose rock. He cautiously felt around the edge of the ledge to find nothing but empty space. He pitched one of the rocks over the ledge and waited, counting the seconds until he heard it hit the bottom. Maybe 100 feet. Not good. He looked up and could see nothing but blackness.

Am I in a cave? A well? What the hell happened? He couldn't remember anything about how he ended up in here. Did someone throw me down here? Did I fall? If only he had a little light he could better assess the situation. There were no sounds and no light. It was very disorienting. Ranger tried to stand and felt a dull ache in his ankle. Felt like a sprain. That was the least of his worries. He didn't want to move around too much for fear of plunging to his death. Best he could tell, the rock ledge was about 7 feet long and 5 feet wide. Not much room for error.

Ranger suddenly felt very tired and very cold. He was wearing his standard Rangeman uniform of black t-shirt, black cargo pants, and black boots. He wished for his windbreaker right about now. It was probably no more than 40 degrees in the cave and he had nothing to block the cold.

He felt himself starting to lose consciousness. The pain in his head was making it difficult to concentrate. Maybe if I just rest for a bit I'll be able to think clearer, he thought. He slid back down into a sitting position and tried to curl up to keep as much heat near his body as possible. He was starting to shiver. His last thought before he passed out was "Ranger, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?"


	2. Chapter 2

02/05/2019

**Chapter 2 – Stephanie**

_48 hours earlier_

Ok that's it, I've had it, I quit. I know I've said it 100 times, but this time I mean it. I was currently laying facedown in a pool of jello and whipped cream because the FTA I was pursuing said she'd only let me take her in if I jello wrestled her. Never wanting to back down from a challenge, and desperately needing the $500 fee I'd receive for her capture, I agreed. Little did I know that Miss Betty Busters was the reigning Trenton jello wrestlers champion. Who knew?

She had me pinned in 10 seconds flat and while I was literally up to my eyeballs in jello, she ran. So now I have no FTA, no money, and no dignity. Maybe the button factory is hiring.

I was trying my best to towel off before getting into my piece of crap car when I suddenly felt the air pressure change. It was Ranger. "Babe," Ranger said. "I can explain," I said. Ranger held his hands up and said "Not necessary." He pulled me to him and touched his tongue to my neck. I got a rush so strong I had to resist the urge to rip his clothes off right there. "Mmm strawberry Jello." And he kissed me.

"Wha wha what's up?" I said, still trying to control my heart

rate. "I'm leaving town for a few days on business," Ranger said. "Tank is in charge so let him know if you need anything." "Ok sure," I said. "Anything I need to know about?" The corner of Ranger's lip twitched into an almost smile. "Nothing I can't handle," Ranger said. "Some clients of mine were robbed and we think we know where the robbers are stashed. These clients are high-end and have certain expectations when it comes to securing their properties and their family. If we don't get these guys it will not be good for me or for Rangeman." "Please be careful," I said. "Always am," Ranger said. "And you stay away from any more jello wrestling matches. Unless they are with me." And he slid into his Porsche and left. "Yea right," I said. Something about Ranger's mission didn't sit well with me, but nothing I could do about it now. I got into my car and motored off towards my apartment. Time for plan b on Miss Betty Busters.


	3. Chapter 3 - Stephanie

02/06/2019

Chapter 3 – Stephanie

I was in desperate need of a shower. I was quite sure I'd have Jello in parts of me that even Morelli hasn't seen – and trust me, he's seen it all. I parked in my lot and ran upstairs to my apartment, pausing at my hamster, Rex's cage. "Hiya Rex, did you have a good day?" I asked him. I dropped a green bean in his cage and then dropped my clothes on the floor on the way to the bathroom.

I took a shower and dressed in jeans and a black stretchy t-shirt. I finished off the look with a little mascara and lip gloss. I was debating the finer points of eating a peanut butter sandwich vs. mooching lunch from my parents when my phone rang.

"Do you know where your hero is?" a strange voice said when I answered. "Excuse me?" I said. "You heard me" the voice said. "Who is this?" "That isn't important. Answer my question." "Are you talking about Ranger?" I said. Silence. "Are you going to give me a hint as to what you're talking about?" "You'll see. It's all part of the game. You have to find the mouse to get to the cheese." And the line went dead. Uh…find the mouse to get to the cheese?

Ok. It's not like I haven't had the occasional crazy phone call before. I'm kind of a magnet for this sort of thing. So I wasn't sure if I should be creeped out or worried or ignore it. It could've been a totally random prank. I mean, he never said Ranger's name. Should I call him? I should call him.

I dialed Ranger's number. "Babe" Ranger said. "Hi" I said. "What's up?" Silence. "Just wanted to check in. All good?" "All good" Ranger said. "Ok then, good chat, gotta run" I said. "You ok?" Ranger said. "Yep" I said. "Babe" Ranger said. And he disconnected.

See Stephanie? Nothing to worry about. Ranger's fine. Probably some kids playing pranks. I'm glad I didn't mention the call to Ranger, he probably would have laughed at me. Well, he would've laughed on the inside at least. So why do I have this nagging feeling that something isn't quite right? I could use a doughnut. Life is always better with doughnuts. So I locked up the apartment, got into my latest piece of crap car, and headed out to Tasty Pastry bakery.


	4. Chapter 4 - Ranger

02/07/2019

Thank you guys so much for the reviews! I'm having a blast and you are giving me some great ideas from your comments. There may be a clue hidden in this chapter. Only the Plum elite may get it.

_5 Days Earlier_

Ranger dreamed he was falling. He was in complete and suffocating darkness. He desperately tried to grab onto something, anything, to stop him from falling, but there was nothing there. He was suddenly awake, heart pounding and breathless. "That's the third dream I've had like that this week", Ranger thought. He glanced at the clock – 4am. Might as well get up and get a workout in.

Ranger changed into workout gear and headed down to the gym. He worked out hard for a couple of hours and then headed upstairs to shower and start his day. He was just finishing his breakfast of a bagel, low fat cream cheese, and smoked salmon, when he got a call from the control center.

"SE Corp just had a break-in," Tank said. "We've got a car in route, but I thought you'd want to know." "I'm on my way," Ranger said. Oh great. SE Corp was probably the most important client in Rangeman's book of business. They were also probably the most difficult. They paid top dollar for top dollar security, and it was not going to be fun to deal with this first thing in the morning. Ranger grabbed his keys to his Porsche Cayenne and rode the elevator down to the garage. He remoted open his car and put his foot to the floor as he headed across town.

SE Corp was located in an up-and-coming neighborhood just west of downtown Trenton. Specializing in wealth management services for clients with a net worth of $100 million and up, the company had good reason to want to protect its assets. The building was outfitted with the latest and greatest security system on the outside, and the computers were protected with a combination of physical and software barriers. Rangeman installed and monitored everything, and Ranger personally custom outfitted and designed the system. So it was equal parts embarrassment and frustration that the system he designed was compromised.

Ranger rolled into the lot and parked next to a Rangeman fleet car. He spotted Hal, who quickly strode over. "What do we know?" Ranger asked. "The power went out around 4am this morning" Hal said. "It was a scheduled disruption because the power company is working on some lines down the street." "We had them on battery backup, and a patrol car was checking on things every hour. Sometime between the 4:30 and 5:30 patrol, the control center realized that one of the computer terminals was not responsive. We sent a car to check right away and discovered the break-in. It's bad, Ranger," Hal said. "We think they were able to copy most of their clients' records, bank account numbers, and who knows what else. We still don't know how they accessed the building, no doors and windows were compromised."

Ranger felt sick. He was normally the calm one, but he felt the urge to dry heave as he saw the CEO, Mick Lucheck, headed Ranger's way. "Mr Lucheck," Ranger said. "I assure you we are making every effort to get to the bottom of what happened." "At this point, Manoso," Lucheck said, "it isn't really important HOW it happened, is it? You need to spend every waking minute figuring out WHO did this and I want names, I want bodies, I want heads on a platter! Someone is going to pay for this and it's either going to be the ones who did it or you. I trusted you when you said you were the best in the business! You have NO IDEA how far some of my clients would go if they knew about this," Lucheck said. "And I will be the first to throw your name to the wolves if you don't make this go away."

"I assure you I will get to the bottom of this," Ranger said. "You have my word." "Your word is worth about as much as your security system right now," Lucheck said. "Show me results – and fast – for both our sakes."

Ranger jogged to his car and dialed Tank. "My office, 15 minutes. We are in deep shit."


	5. Chapter 5 - Ranger

02/08/2019

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think so far. Am I being too confusing with the timeline? Also, what is your preference on publishing chapters – shorter content more frequently or longer content less frequently? This is my first ever story so thanks a million for the feedback!

Ranger drove back to Rangeman and parked in the garage. He rode the elevator to his office, where Tank was waiting. "I can't believe this happened," Ranger said. "Out of all the clients, it had to be this one." "Pardon my asking," Tank said, "but why the freak out with SE Corp?" Ranger gave Tank a murderous glare. Tank backed up a step and said "I mean, I know it's bad any time one of our clients gets hit, but this one seems to be extra special."

"First of all, I don't freak out," Ranger said, using air quotes with his fingers to emphasize the ridiculousness of the accusation. "Second of all, what the fuck was the system doing offline without anyone deploying the backup firewalls? And third of all, let's just say that these clients deal with the scum of the earth who just happen to have more money than you and I will ever see in 5 lifetimes. When you combine scum with extreme wealth, the result is the power to pretty much do whatever you want, to whoever you want, whenever you want."

There was more to this story than Ranger was letting on. It was true, he knew that SE Corp did not deal with the straightest of arrows, but from all of his research, the company ran a legitimate business. Who they had as clients was one thing, but the business seemed to operate on the up and up. Ranger was starting to grow complacent in his day-to-day managing of the business so when SE Corp approached him a little over a year ago about designing a state of the art system for some unique challenges, he jumped at the chance. It was new and exciting to be able to use all of his skills to build something from scratch. And they were willing to pay top dollar for it.

Not that money was ever at the forefront of his decisions. Ranger had a very secure lifestyle of his own, but the Boston and Miami offices were not doing as well as he liked, and he wanted to be able to keep all of his men employed as long as they wanted to work for Rangeman. The decision to bid for the job weighed heavily on Ranger for months. He had his team perform all of the regular clearance checks and Ranger personally checked the backgrounds of the company and its owners. SE Corp had been purchased by a private equity firm about 6 months prior to Rangeman's involvement. The only thing that gave him pause was that he was unable to determine what attracted the firm to purchase SE Corp in the first place. Sure they turned a profit, but based on the other companies the firm owned, it didn't seem to fit the profile. It was explained to him that the firm wanted to diversify and they felt that wealth management would help them do just that.

Ranger knew that it was a risk taking on SE Corp as a client, given their sometimes shady clientele. Client lists were highly confidential, but Ranger got his hands on the list. We are talking about politicians, high-ranking government officials, world leaders, and the country's wealthiest business men and women. Throw in the (presumed innocent of course) members of organized crime and you have a recipe for death if something goes wrong. And it was Ranger who ultimately jeopardized the safety of his team by signing the contract.

Ranger turned to Tank and said "Bring in the A-team and get Sylvio on the phone. I want him combing through ever line of code to see how the data was copied. Everyone leaves evidence. We just need to find it. And I want every available man combing through the records of every employee, delivery driver, and janitor that's been to that office. If they took a shit in the bathroom I want to know about it. And when we find these fuck wads we will go after them and get that data back before anyone knows it's missing," Ranger said. "I'm on it," Tank said.

For the next few days Ranger barely slept. He was running on fumes while reading through all of the reports that the team had been gathering. So far, nothing concrete had showed up. A few prospects had turned into dead ends. Suddenly, Tank was at his door looking – well, Tank really only had one look. Maybe a little excited. "Sylvio found something," Tank said. "We think we may have our guy."


	6. Chapter 6 - Stephanie

02/08/2019

Got 2 chapters posted tonight – enjoy and let me know what you think!

So here I am with the biggest dilemma of the day – Boston cream, maple glazed, or pumpkin spice? Of course I'm talking about what Tasty Pastry doughnut I'm going to order. Who am I kidding, I want them all. My ass, on the other hand, doesn't need them all. So with a heavy sigh I get the Boston cream and savor every morsel.

In a markedly better mood because of the doughnut, I figured I better check in at the Bonds Office, especially since my failed attempt at Betty Busters is going to piss Vinnie off big time. Not that I really care about Vinnie, but I want to see if Connie has any more leads on her whereabouts.

"Hey girl," Lula said when I entered the office. "What's new? And why does your skin look so red? It can't be a sunburn on account of it's October." "Not important," I said. No way was I admitting the Jello incident to anyone. It was bad enough that Ranger saw me. How would I ever live that one down? Actually, I think Ranger probably enjoyed it. He'll probably insist I give him a live reenactment. The mere thought made my toes curl with desire. "Hmph," Lula said, annoyed that I wouldn't tell her what happened.

"Hey Connie," I said, quickly changing the subject. "Do you have another address for Betty Busters? I can't seem to get a handle on her." Poor choice of words. Both Connie and Lula were staring at me. They were putting two and two together, and it was as if I could see their minds slowly putting the puzzle together. "Oh my God," they both said in unison. "It wasn't my fault," I said. "You wrestled that FTA didn't you," Lula said, tears streaming down her face she was laughing so hard. Connie snorted and they both laughed even harder. "Get it all out," I said. "Am I the only one who didn't know she was a state champ?" "Pretty much," Lula said. "They had a parade for her and everything."

Connie passed me an address on a piece of paper. "Here, try this address," she said. "If you're lucky you will catch her before she makes you go for the best of two out of three." I rolled my eyes so hard I think I may have knocked something loose up there. "Lula, are you coming?" I asked. "Sure, let me just grab my camera and I'll be right behind you. I'm not missing this one." I'm channeling my inner Ranger and laughing on the inside.

Twenty minutes later we were parked down the street from a run-down apartment building a block away from Stark Street. "You sure you have the right address?" Lula asked. "I wouldn't think someone as famous as Betty would hang out in a place like this." "Yep," I said. "It's the one Connie gave me." While I didn't think Betty was especially dangerous, we weren't in the best part of town. In fact, we were close to the worst part of town. Gang killings and violent crimes were just everyday occurrences for the occupants of Stark.

Betty had been arrested for involuntary manslaughter and Vinnie had posted her bail. She was "entertaining" an older gentleman who apparently had a massive heart attack and died while Betty was smothering him into her enormous breasts. Guess she has other talents besides wrestling. The medical examiner said the man's heart attack was caused by lack of oxygen and too much excitement. Too bad his other brain was doing all the thinking.

"Ok," I said. "Here's what's going to happen. She's already seen my face so you are going to knock on her door while I wait by the car. Tell her that she's won an award for all of her wrestling championships and you need her to come to the car to sign for it. When she gets to the car, we'll simply encourage her to come with us to get re-bonded." "Ok, but aren't we going to unnecessary lengths? Can't we just shoot her or stun her instead and drag her ass to the car?" Lula said. "No shooting," I said. I pretty much have to remind Lula about this on a daily basis. "We'll try it your way," Lula said, "but don't say I wasn't against this from the beginning."

Lula sashayed out of the car and went to the door. She knocked. No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer. Lula knocked again, and my phone rang. It was Ranger. "My men tell me you are parked by Stark Street," Ranger said. "That's not the best part of town." "I'm fine," I said. "Lula and I are going after an FTA." "The Jello lady?" Ranger asked. "Yep," I said. "How's everything going with you?" I asked. "I just drove 10 hours straight and will probably be up half the night, but hopefully we can get this business taken care of and get home," Ranger said. "Here's hoping," I said. "Babe," Ranger said. And he disconnected.

Lula knocked again for what seemed like 5 minutes straight and the door was suddenly wrenched open and Lula was pulled inside. Crap! I ran out of the car and peeked in the front window and saw Lula sitting on top of Betty in a pool of – yep, you guessed it – strawberry Jello. "Well," I thought, "looks like Lula is now the new reigning champ." Who knew.

We got Betty into the car and got Lula toweled off. We dropped Betty off at the police station and headed back to the Bonds Office to get my capture money. "I'm done for the day," I said. "I'm going to drop you at the office and then I'm headed home." "Works for me," Lula said. "I worked up an appetite doing all that wrestling. I'm gonna get me a bucket of chicken and veg out on the couch." Lula's plan sounded pretty good to me.

After I dropped Lula off, I stopped by Pino's and picked up a meatball sub and a 6 pack of beer. I was going to eat and veg out on my couch too. I rolled into the lot of my apartment building just before dark and took the stairs to the second floor.

I put my key into the lock when something caught my eye in front of my door. An abnormally large and dead as a doornail mouse – ewww! It was belly up and looked like it had been dropped or maybe thrown because it was flat and broken. Well I can't wait to chow down on my meatball sub after seeing that! I called Dylan, our building super, and asked if he could come remove it for me. I closed my eyes and jumped over the mouse and slammed my door shut and threw the bolt. I go after big bad guys all the time, but at my core, I'm a wimpy girl. So sue me.

I was changing into my sweats when something dawned on me and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The prank phone call I received earlier said something about finding a mouse to get the cheese. Is it related? Weird coincidence? I knew Ranger was stressed about his mission and he sounded so exhausted on the phone earlier so I didn't want to bother him with another problem that will surely turn out to be nothing. If one more thing like this happens, I thought, I'll tell Ranger.

Boy was I unaware of just how dangerous a game we both were about to be forced to play.


	7. Chapter 7 - Ranger

02/09/2019

**Note for the readers: my timeline has been bothering me so until I can clear it up without having to explain it, I'll just explain it. Chapter 1 is the only chapter that is in the "present." We'll pick back up on that story soon. Two storylines are happening here and eventually they will blend together. Ranger's story starts when the break-in happens – 5 days prior to present. Stephanie's story starts when Ranger leaves town – 2 days prior to present. This chapter is catching us up between Ranger and Stephanie's timeline so now they are both synched up and are within 2 days of shock and awe. Enjoy!

"Talk to me," Ranger said. Ranger and Tank were in Ranger's office and Sylvio had been conferenced in. Sylvio was Ranger's top IT guy and he could make some magic happen with nothing but his fingers and a computer. "I've been going through all of the targeted computers' log files and as you can imagine the files have all been destroyed or corrupted," Sylvio said. At least I thought all of them had been destroyed. We weren't even sure they electronically transmitted anything since they were physically in the building when the attack occurred. I was running another system scan and came across a file that must have gotten hung in the deletion process. It wasn't all readable, but I was able to reconstruct it enough to see that there was a lot of data transmitted to a remote sever." That got a groan out of Ranger.

"Although this may seem like bad news," Sylvio said, "it's actually good because now I have something to trace. This guy is good – he must have re-routed the data 100 times." "But you're better," Ranger said. "So tell me you found a termination point." "Yes," said Sylvio, "but here's where it gets strange. The data was sent to an IP address registered to SE Corp in Arlington. "Now I'm lost," Ranger said. Someone stole data from SE Corp and transmitted it to SE Corp? Or at least they wanted it to look like this. Why would someone do that?" "Not sure," Sylvio said. Maybe the boss's kid was playing around and wanted to see if he could do it or maybe someone on the inside wants to send a message?"

"Oh I'll send a message when I get my hands on this guy," Ranger thought to himself. "Send me the address of the Arlington office and let them know we are on the way down," Ranger said to Tank. "We are conducting interrogations tomorrow and need every employee available to us, no exceptions. Tell Hal, Raul, and Ice to pack up and meet me in the garage in an hour. Sylvio, I want you to keep researching this, we are missing something and I think it's someone connected to SE Corp. My gut says this is an inside job and it goes deep," Ranger said. "10-4," Sylvio said.

Ranger rode the elevator to the 7th floor and stepped into his apartment. He quickly packed a bag with extra clothes and a flak vest. He grabbed his utility belt with cuffs, stun gun, pepper spray, and extra ammo. He packed extra guns and strapped his knife to his leg. If this was going to get ugly, Ranger was going to be prepared.

Ranger met up with his crew in the garage and discussed the game plan. Hal and Ice would ride up in the transport van incase they needed to bring any prisoners back to Trenton, and Ranger would follow in the Cayenne. Ranger had rooms booked in a hotel just outside of Arlington where they would re-convene later this evening to discuss logistics. Hal and Ice left the garage and Ranger headed in the opposite direction. He had one last thing to check off his list before he left town.

Stephanie's car was being monitored so Ranger knew where he could find her. Stephanie didn't always appreciate the finer qualities of free security, but deep down she knew it was for her own good. "She gets herself into more trouble than I could ever imagine, but I still love her all the same," Ranger thought to himself. He tracked her to an industrial park on the other side of the city, no doubt she was trying to bring in an FTA.

Ranger pulled into the lot and saw Stephanie trying to wipe something off herself – was that Jello? Shaking his head, he walked over to her. What he wouldn't give to run his tongue all over her, but Ranger settled for touching his tongue to her neck. It had the desired effect. Ranger had no real reason to see Stephanie before he left town, but if anything went south with this mission, he wanted her last thoughts of him to be good ones.

They said their "goodbyes" and "be carefuls" and then Ranger was on the road. He had a long drive ahead and it gave him time to think about the turn of events. There were too many question marks, and Ranger was not used to having more questions than answers. What information was stolen and why was it stolen? Who was the intended audience? Most importantly, how long before he had a trail of assassins on his back for allowing the breach of data in the first place?

All of this thinking and his lack of sleep over the last few days was giving Ranger a headache. He massaged his temples with his fingers. If he had to put his money on one culprit, it would be someone close to the company, someone who would have all of the access they needed. Someone like – no it can't be? The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. Can it?


	8. Chapter 8 - Ranger

Chapter 8 - Ranger 02/10/2019

Ranger was still en route to Arlington, but he pulled over and whipped out his phone and dialed Sylvio. "What do we know about the firm that purchased SE Corp?" Ranger asked. "Nothing substantial," Sylvio said. The firm is owned by an oil and gas tycoon and run by the family's youngest daughter, a trust fund spoiled daddy's girl-type. She also has a history of mental illness – that's not exactly public record, but when I was checking backgrounds I found that she spent some time in a mental health facility in upstate NY a few years ago." "Were her records sealed?" Ranger asked. "Yes," Sylvio said, "but not because she was a minor. I'm sure it had to do with her social status. I think the firm is something of a distraction for the girl. She needed something to do so why not hand her a multi million dollar business to run. Why the question – something got your gears turning?" Sylvio asked.

"I can't shake the feeling that I'm somehow being tested or that someone is playing with me," Ranger said. "I don't think it's SE Corp, I worked very closely with them for months so they know what I'm capable of. Keep digging. I want you to get some more background on this woman. Find out everything you can about her relationships - who she may have met while in treatment, who she associates with now, who her boyfriends are. Also, see if you can get more info on why they purchased SE Corp in the first place." "Will do," Sylvio said.

Ranger got back on the road and headed for Arlington. Hal, Raul, and Ice were waiting when Ranger pulled in. "What's the plan, boss?" Hal said. Ranger had a roster of everyone who worked in the Arlington office and they planned to systematically speak with everyone. They would gather as much information as possible and report back with any credible tips or suspects. Ranger was going to focus on running a program that Sylvio created through all of the onsite computers to see if he could determine if any of the stolen information was ever stored or copied. "I want to know about every suspicion," Ranger said to his men. "I will personally deal with anyone who may have anything to contribute to the investigation."

SE Corp's Arlington office was located in a multi story complex in the center of the city's business district. It occupied 3 floors, plus they rented some storage space in the basement. SE Corp's Human Resources, Finance, and Marketing teams were located on floors 2 and 3, while most of the IT Support and desktop operations teams were located on the 1st floor. The Rangeman team arrived at the office at 7am and met with the management team to discuss the plan of action. After another night of tossing and turning, Ranger was at least glad for the distraction of having something to focus on. He was running short on both time and patience.

Ranger stayed on the ground floor to start his computer work while Hal and the others started on the 3rd floor. Ranger spent most of the morning reading through output reports and speaking with Sylvio about any results that were flagged by the program. After turning up nothing, Ranger was preparing to go join his men when Sylvio called. Sylvio was checking the inventory of computers against the ones that Ranger scanned when he came up short. "According to the inventory sheet," Sylvio said, "they keep another computer in the basement where they rent their storage space," "I'll go check it out," Ranger said. He called Hal and told him where he was headed and rode the elevator down to the basement.

Ranger found the storage area, but couldn't locate the computer. The place was packed with wall-to-wall stuff; there were boxes upon boxes of records, old phone equipment and furniture, and what looked like marketing promotional items and signage. The promotional items read "Uniquely Yours – Wealth Management Services Corp." He remembered that when the firm purchased SE Corp they rebranded the company and changed the name. He was about to call Sylvio to see if he could tell him the meaning behind the new name when he felt something sharp pierce his neck and everything went black.

Ranger awoke to a black boot kicking him in the leg. His arms were cuffed behind his back and his legs were shackled to the floorboard of some type of panel van. It was dark in the van. His vision was blurred, but he could hear someone talking to him. The black boot kicked Ranger harder, and he grunted and shook his head to try and clear the cobwebs.

"Time to wake up," an all too familiar voice said to him. Ranger looked the man in the eye, but couldn't believe who he was seeing. "The game's about to begin."


	9. Chapter 9 - Stephanie

02/12/2019

**Note: thanks for all of the reviews and comments. I promise we are close to finding out who is behind all of this. Stay with me and thanks for reading!

I got up the next morning and peered out into the hall. No dead mouse. Yes! I have to remember to get Dylan a 6 pack for taking care of that for me. I made it through the morning without any weird phone calls or disturbing gifts so I started to relax. "See Stephanie?" I thought to myself. "You are not a total trouble magnet. Sometimes a coincidence is really just a coincidence."

I was reading through a new case file at the Bonds Office when Lula stormed through the door. "What's up with you?" I asked her. "I am so mad, I need a doughnut so bad," Lula said. "Me and Tank were right in the middle of some morning love making when he got a phone call and dashed off." "Well did he say why?" I asked. "He just said duty calls. You know Tank, he don't say a whole lot. I'm just getting real tired of always playing backseat to his job." "Well maybe you should cool it with Tank," I said. "Are you kidding me?" Lula said. "That man is a fine specimen. I'll take what I can get."

I wondered why Tank dashed off, but with Rangeman it's really not surprising. Ranger's men are nothing if not efficient. "What's on the agenda for the day?" Lula asked as she took a doughnut from the box on Connie's desk. "We need to do some recon work on our new FTA, do you want to ride along?" "Sure," Lula said, "let's roll."

Our latest FTA was charged with assault and destruction of property. Melvin Small was apparently having some chronic issues with his work computer and took a baseball bat to it one day during lunch. Melvin then accidentally whacked his boss with the bat when he tried to step in and confiscate it. "This guy is my hero," Lula said. "Who doesn't want to take a bat to a computer every once in a while." I agreed with Lula, and I felt bad for having to bring him in.

Since Melvin was a first time offender, he would probably get off easy. I just had to convince him to let me take him downtown and get him rescheduled. If I could find him. Lula and I took Hamilton on our way to Melvin's house. We rang the bell when we arrived, but no one answered. We decided to sit in the car and wait a while, hoping Melvin would show. I got to listen to Lula complain about how she was hungry, how she had to use the bathroom, how her ass was falling asleep. And this all happened within the first 15 minutes!

After about an hour of sitting and waiting, I was ready to beam Lula with a baseball bat so we left to get lunch. We got pizza at Pinos and took it back to the Bonds Office. "Any luck?" Connie asked. "Not yet," I said. "I'll swing by later and see if I can find him."

I wasn't feeling very motivated after lunch so I motored off to my apartment. I was debating cleaning the bathroom vs taking a nap when my phone rang.

"Are you ready to play?" It was the same voice from the other day. "Play what?" I asked. "Who is this?" "You'll know soon enough. First, we are going to play a game. I like to call it Life. I'm going to give you a series of puzzles that you must solve. Each one will lead you to a location. Solve the clues and your hero lives. Don't solve them and it's lights out. Don't play and it's lights out."

"Look," I said. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but it's going to end very badly for you. Ranger will find you and it won't be pretty. You should just end this now." Just then I heard a muffled moan and my breath caught in my throat. "Guess who?" said the voice. "I don't think I have to worry about anyone finding me."

"What have you done?" I said. "Let me talk to him." "Hero is, shall we say, incapacitated at the moment. You ready for your first clue?" I didn't answer. "I'll take that as a yes," the voice said. "Here it is: A giant you will never be, its copycat is not as free. You have 24 hours to solve the puzzle and receive your next clue. I'll be in touch and may the best man win." And the line went dead.

I quickly copied down the words the caller said before I forgot them and gave into the panic that was taking my breath away and making my vision blur. I did some deep breathing and tried not to completely lose it. I dialed Ranger's number and it went straight to voicemail. I dialed Tank's number.

"Tank, what is going on?" I said, not even bothering to explain why I was calling. "Tell me you know where Ranger is." Silence. Oh God. "We don't exactly know what happened yet," Tank said. "His last known location was the basement of SE Corp's office building. He radioed Hal to let him know where he was going. Hal tried to check in after 15 minutes and got worried when Ranger didn't answer. Hal went to check on him and discovered that Ranger was gone, but Hal found a syringe on the ground near the delivery entrance at the back of the building. We think he was drugged with a sedative. We've reviewed the security footage and we saw a man load Ranger into the back of a van and head west out of the parking garage. We've got men looking for him and I'm headed up there now. How did you know something was going on?" Tank asked.

I filled Tank in on the phone call and explained how I was supposed to play this psycho's game. I told him about the previous day's phone call and about the mouse I found on my doorstep." "Shit," Tank said. "I'm on my way to you. Don't do anything until I get there."

What the hell could all of this mean? Why would someone take Ranger only to have me try to solve clues to rescue Ranger? Was this some sort of sick joke? Was it revenge against me? Against Ranger? Well I wasn't going to take any chances on this. I would play this game and I would somehow, someway come to Ranger's rescue.


	10. Chapter 10 - Stephanie

02/13/2019

**Note: many clues inside the clues in this chapter. Did anyone guess the answer to the riddle? Any guesses on who is behind this whole thing? Hope you enjoy!

I was still shaking and trying to control my emotions, but I forced myself to compartmentalize everything and focus. Ranger says you have to focus on the goal and you can't give yourself up to unproductive emotion. So that's what I was trying to do when Tank arrived at my door 15 minutes later.

"Tell me everything," Tank said. I told him about the first call that I received a couple of days ago and about the mouse that I found on my doorstep. I relayed as best as I could about the game and how each clue would lead me to a new location. I told him we had 24 hours to solve the riddle. "What happens if you don't solve it by then?" Tank asked. "From what I gathered, this is some sort of contest between the caller and Ranger. He said "may the best man win" as if he were a contestant in a competition," I said. I didn't want to think about what happened if we didn't solve the riddle. "I get the sense this guy has something to prove and he seems to have a history with Ranger." "Well that doesn't exactly narrow it down," Tank said. "Ranger has a history with a lot of nut jobs." "It's more than that," I said. "He's never actually said Ranger's name. I think it means something."

"I've called everyone in on this," Tank said. If we lose clients then we lose clients, but Ranger is the top priority for everyone right now. I've organized two task forces. One group is focused on finding out who this guy is and will help us figure out the game this whack job is playing. The other group is combing every square mile trying to find him."

"What happens now?" I said. "Now we go back to Rangeman and get working on the first clue," Tank said. I was still terrified, but I was feeling a little more optimistic that we'd figure this out and get Ranger back. As big and scary as Tank looked, he had a calming influence on me. I packed a bag since I figured I'd be away a few days and I asked my neighbor to look in on Rex. Tank and I rode the elevator to the ground floor and hopped into a black Ford Explorer and took off towards Rangeman.

"The most pressing thing is solving this clue," I said. "Since the caller said the clues would lead to a location, I'm betting this is a city or a street or an address or something." Like that narrows it down to only 15 billion choices. "Read the clue again," Tank said. "A giant you will never be, its copycat is not as free." "It doesn't make any sense," Tank said. "That's the point," I said. "If he wanted this to be easy he'd just tell us where to go."

We pulled into the Rangeman garage and made our way to the control room. Tank introduced me to several of the men who were working in our task force. He also introduced me to Sylvio who booked the first flight out as soon as he heard the news. "Ranger was having me follow up on the firm's owners before he was taken," Sylvio said. "So I knew something was wrong when his phone started going right to voicemail."

I explained to Sylvio how I thought this might be some sort of location or landmark. "Let's break this down into pieces," Sylvio said. "The first piece talks about never being a giant. This can be literal or figurative. If it's figurative we are in trouble because that can mean anything. So let's assume it's literal." "I've been thinking about it, and I'm wondering if it means the opposite of giant, like small or little," I said. "Let's start with that," Sylvio said. He started furiously typing into his computer and within a few minutes said, "Ok, according to my calculations, there are only 14 cities in the U.S. that start with the word little. I'm assuming he's keeping this local if he plans to send us on a scavenger hunt." "That's manageable," I said. "It gets worse," Sylvio said. "There are over 500 neighborhoods and 1,500 plus streets that have some affiliation to the word."

My shoulders sagged. "How are we going to do this?" I asked. "We've got two things that no one else has," Tank said quietly. "The smartest girl I know and the most loyal Ranger soldiers on earth. We'll find him." I gave Tank a look of gratitude and he returned the gesture.

We worked through the night trying to gather information on the second piece of the riddle. We were throwing out ideas but nothing was sticking. Sylvio wrote a program to triangulate all of the locations we had identified with any ideas we dreamed up. At some point we were just reading street names to see if anything stood out. I stood up and pushed back my chair and sighed. "I feel like we are just guessing and there's got to be a reason behind this clue," I said. I had a sudden thought and turned to Sylvio. "You said Ranger asked you to look into someone just before he was taken. Did you find anything of interest?" Sylvio thought for a moment.

"He had me looking into the daughter of the family who owns the firm. She was handed this position to run the firm not long after she left treatment at a mental health facility. I think Ranger thought there may have been other influences at work, maybe someone behind the scenes pulling the puppet strings." "Did anything turn up?" I asked. "Not so far, but I'm still running through some things."

I grabbed my coffee cup and turned to Tank and Sylvio. "I'm going to get some coffee, anybody want anything?" Both men declined. I went into the kitchen and poured myself a cup. The mood was somber. Most of Ranger's men knew what was going on and I'm sure it was hard to think of anything except their missing boss. "Think Stephanie," I said to myself. A copycat that will never be free. Free could mean it doesn't cost you anything or free could mean freedom. So what isn't free? Everything – that's what's not free. Who isn't free? Ranger for one. But where does the copycat come into play? We'd been trying to fit the locations into the puzzle – like trying to see if Little Rock or Little Italy made sense. Nothing made sense. I checked my watch – 11:00am. The caller phoned at 2pm yesterday so we had roughly 3 hours to figure this out or Ranger would be toast.

Gosh what I wouldn't do to be on a beach right now, far far away from here with the wind in my hair, the sun on my skin, the…wait. I dropped my cup on the counter and raced back to Tank and Sylvio. "Guys!" I said. "I think I've got it! I keep thinking that this has some personal ties to Ranger. Ranger grew up in Jersey, but he went to high school down in Miami. There's an area down there called Little Havana." Actually, it's where his daughter Julie lives, I thought to myself.

"But how does Havana fit the second piece of the code?" Tank asked. Sylvio was nodding his head – he had already thought it through. "Havana – as in Cuba. A copycat, but it doesn't have the freedoms that the U.S. has," I said. "I like it," Sylvio said. "It fits." The feeling in my stomach right now was indescribable. Excitement mixed with adrenaline and extreme fear that if I was wrong Ranger was as good as dead. "Let's keep running through other options just incase something better pops up," Tank said.

By 1:30 I was a nervous wreck. I felt like I was going to throw up every 5 minutes. Tank told me to keep him talking as long as possible and try to get any details out of him that I could. Ask to speak to Ranger. I kept checking my watch- 30 minutes, then 20, then 10, then 3. At exactly 2:00pm, my cell phone rang. You could hear a pin drop in the office. I opened the line. "Do you have an answer for me?" the caller said. "Yes, but first I want to talk to Ranger," I said. "He's not available." "Did you leave him somewhere?" I asked. "That's none of your concern. What is your answer?"

I took a deep breath and then said "It's Little Havana." There was a pause, and I heard him curse very faintly to himself. He composed himself and said "Your answer is accepted. I am going to give you some GPS coordinates. Write them down. There you will find your next clue." I wrote down the coordinates that he gave me. "You have 24 hours before I contact you again." "Wait," I said, but the line was already dead.

I gave Sylvio the coordinates and he typed them into his computer. "Where are we going?" I asked. "Miami here we come."


	11. Chapter 11 - Ranger

02/14/2019

Ranger knew what crazy looked like. He'd seen it in the eyes of countless men, both on the battlefield and in the Burg. Hell, he'd seen it in his own eyes from time to time. But this guy was next level crazy. The kind that you hope to never come across. And this makes twice that their paths have crossed.

Ranger had been driven to an abandoned mining camp in what looked like the middle of nowhere. He had no idea where he was, but he figured he was still in the general area since a lot of these camps still existed in Virginia and West Virginia. He had pieced together that he was drugged with some kind of sedative and loaded into a delivery van shortly after he went into the basement of the office building. He wasn't sure how long he was out, but the sun was just starting to set so he figured they were about 4-5 hours from Arlington. Anything that could be used to track him had been removed – no watch, no phone. And no gun.

He was still woozy as he was forced out of the van with his hands cuffed behind his back and his ankles shackled, but he was alert and assessing what he was up against. They made their way into a cabin that was damp, musty, and half rotted away. There was no light except a small lantern on a dust covered table. There was a small wooden chair in one corner and a large bolt had been screwed into the floor. Ranger was led to the chair and was chained to both the chair and the floor bolt. His capturer casually leaned against the table and stared at Ranger.

"That sedative is strong stuff, huh?" Ranger didn't answer. "I should know. Four Winds gave it to us like vitamins." Four Winds is a mental hospital, Ranger thought. So that's the connection. "Oh, does it sound familiar to you? I spent a lot of years there. I met a lovely girl there too – Jane Lewis - you may have heard of her. Her father is a bigwig in the oil industry, but he dabbles in other things like private equity firms. Sweet girl, but really quite, you know, cuckoo." He put his finger to his ear and made circles with his finger.

"I thought you were locked up for life," Ranger said. "I thought so too. But it's amazing what can happen when you meet the right people who are drowning in money. Money really does buy power. Sweet little Janey is the apple of her father's eye. Whatever Jane wants Jane gets. And she wanted to be with me on the outside. My therapists testified on my behalf and said I was like a new person. And I was ready to face the world and live a normal life. So I was released."

"Once Jane and I were out we really needed to think about our futures and our careers. And I thought why not work in private equity? We can buy all kinds of things – like a business that really needed Rangeman protection." "So you convinced Jane's father to let her buy SE Corp?" Ranger asked. "Nope – Jane did all the convincing. She's actually quite good at managing a business. She needed a little help along the way though. She wasn't sure about wealth management, but I convinced her that it would be great to diversify. I also told her we should rebrand the company, and I even helped her out with the new name. Everyone thought that SE Corp stood for Secured Equity Corporation, but you and I know better." He winked conspiratorially at Ranger. "Your initials," Ranger said. "Yes! I thought it was quite genius if I do say so myself."

"So was there ever a data breach or was that all your doing?" Ranger asked. "It was all me. Paid some hackers to set everything up. And of course I had all the building clearance I needed. I knew it would have to be something really really big to get your attention and what better way to do that than to think that half the criminals in the country would be after you and your men." If there was any good news to this day, that was it, Ranger thought to himself.

"Why not just come and kill me? Why arrange all of this elaborate scheme? Seems a little theatrical," Ranger said. "You still don't get it, do you? You are living MY life, doing MY job, fulfilling MY dreams!" He pushed away from the table and stalked towards the door. "I realized that last time I didn't try to earn my place, I just tried to take it. What kind of person would I be if I didn't earn my spot? I've thought of nothing else since our last meeting." Ranger had a very bad feeling about where this was headed.

Calming down, he turned back to Ranger. "So I knew the only option was to make this a competition. Winner take all. But I also thought about how you would have every resource at your disposal so it wouldn't really be fair for you and I to compete." He smiled. "That's why Stephanie is helping us play." Ranger tried to lunge out of the chair, but the chains held fast. "Calm down, she's fine. In fact, to my disappointment, she solved the first clue." He opened the door to the cabin. "I'm not worried though. I'm certain she will fail and when she fails I will kill you and take MY rightful place in this world."

Ranger was left alone in the cabin. He was radiating with anger, angry at both himself and this psychopath. What kind of game was Stephanie being forced to play? Surely she's involved the Rangeman team, unless she was threatened to do this alone. Of all the times Stephanie's life was in Ranger's hands, the script is now flipped. It would be humorous if it weren't so deadly serious. Well maybe he can take matters into his own hands. And God help anyone who gets in his way of taking down this whack job.

Any plan that Ranger was formulating was immediately thwarted when the door banged open and his capturer walked in, holding another needle in his hand. "You really think I'd just let you sit out here and formulate your escape plan?" He jabbed the needle into Ranger's neck and left the cabin. Shit, Ranger thought, and then it was lights out.


	12. Chapter 12 - Stephanie

02/15/2019

**Note: I'm loving all of your comments, keep them coming. Apologies to anyone who read the spoilers in the reviews before they read the all of the chapters – I included a note in the summary to give fair warning to those who haven't yet read it. Enjoy this chapter!

Stephanie was walking through a maze of darkness, tripping over rocks and sliding on gravel. Something was propelling her forward, but she had no idea where she was going. She couldn't turn her head to look around. She came to the edge of a mountain and saw a man with his back to her. She tried to call out to him, but she couldn't form the words. He turned and gave her an evil, yet strangely familiar smile and disappeared over the edge, but not before she saw the blood all over the man's hands and the body lying beside her. She fell to her knees and screamed and screamed and suddenly Tank's concerned face swam into focus.

"I think you were having a nightmare," Tank said. That's putting it mildly, I thought. "Dreaming about blowing up cars again?" "I wish," I said. "We're just about to land," Tank said. I buckled my seat belt and took a deep breath. As soon as we had received our instructions for our next location, Tank chartered a flight to get us down to Miami right away. Tank was sitting to my left and Sylvio to my right. I don't think any of us had slept more than a couple of hours since Ranger went missing. I was both exhausted and full of nervous energy, anxious to find the next clue in this game from hell that we had to play.

Sylvio had been typing away at his computer from the moment the plane left the ground. He wasn't kidding when he said his fingers were like magic. "Anything of interest pop up?" I asked him. "Maybe," Sylvio said. "I've been researching this family that bought SE Corp and it seems completely out of character for them. I'm cross referencing employees and partners to see if maybe anyone has a history with the family. Ranger wanted me to check on the daughter who runs the place, but so far I'm not seeing much." My heart constricted a little at the sound of Ranger's name, but I pushed the feeling aside. "Well Ranger must have had a good reason to ask you to check her out," I said. "Agreed," Sylvio said. "That's why I'm not calling it on this one until I'm certain I've uncovered everything." "Exactly how much can you uncover?" I asked him. "I can pretty much find anything with the exception of what you store in your head. And even then, it's not outside the realm of possibility that I can't find it," he said with a small smile.

The plane touched down and I grabbed my phone to check for messages. It had been a little more than 4 hours since the clock started ticking for us to solve the next clue. 20 hours left. I saw that I had a voicemail so I listened to the message. "Um Stephanie," the little girl's voice said. "It's me, Julie. Can you call me? It's kinda important. Thanks." I immediately dialed Ranger's daughter Julie's number. "Hey Julie," I said when she answered. Trying to keep my voice light I said," I got you voicemail, what's up?" "Have you heard from my dad?" she asked. "Not today, why is something wrong?" "I tried to call him a few times and it keeps going right to voicemail." "Well, you know your dad," I said. "He's probably just tied up with work. I'm sure he'll call when he's able." No way was I going to tell Julie anything about this situation. The last thing Ranger needed was for anyone else to know, especially his daughter. "Was there something I could help you with?" I asked her. "Well I got this package and the instructions said it's real important that I give it to the hero's hero right away. Do you know what that means?" she asked.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. So now this psychopath has dragged a little girl into this? A girl who has already had her fair share of horrific events happen to her. When I get my hands on this guy I'm going to murder him myself. I guess I know where the GPS coordinates were going to lead us. "Actually Julie," I said, "I'm coincidentally in the area, and I can swing by and pick up the package and bring it back to your dad. I bet it's an old friend just playing a joke on him." "Yea," Julie said, "maybe." She didn't sound convinced. "I wouldn't worry about it," I said. "Are you home now?" "Yes," Julie said. "Ok, I'll be there soon."

I told Tank and Sylvio about the package and their "what the fuck" facial expressions matched my feelings exactly. Not a lot of people know that Ranger has a daughter. "This guy is good," Tank said. "That information is almost impossible to find." I agreed. "Do we need to be concerned about this package?" I asked. "I mean, do we need to check it for explosives?" "We have a Rangeman office near here so we can have them do a security sweep on it," Tank said.

A Rangeman car was parked at the airport for us so we piled in and hit the road to Julie's house. I was trying my best to stay calm so that I wouldn't completely lose it in front of Julie. She's a lot like her dad, smart and tenacious. I didn't want her to suspect anything was wrong, especially because she would demand to know the details. We arrived at Julie's house and I went to the door and rang the bell. Julie answered and smiled up at me. "Stephanie!" she said. And she hugged me. I smiled back and wrapped my arms around her. "It's good to see you Julie," I said. "What are you doing in Miami? It's a crazy coincidence that you are down here huh?" "I'm just down here checking on something for work," I said. Not technically a lie, I thought. Ranger WAS my job. "Can you stay and visit for a while?" she asked. "Gosh I'd love to, but I really have to get going." She looked a little disappointed, but she understood. "Here's the package," she said. "Should we open it?" Curious brown eyes started up at me. She had Ranger's eyes. "I think I better wait until I see your dad," I said. "Stephanie," Julie said. "What's really going on?"

Tank walked up the sidewalk and joined Julie and me at the door. "Tank!" Julie exclaimed, and she jumped into Tank's arms. "Hi sweetheart," Tank said. "Steph, can I have a moment alone with you?" Tank asked. We stepped away from the front of house. "I don't feel comfortable leaving Julie here without our protection. Someone obviously knows where she lives and Ranger would sooner die than have someone take her again. We need to keep her near us, at least until we know she's not in danger." "What about her parents?" I asked. "I called them and told them that we needed to borrow her for a few hours. They know she'll be safe with me." I looked back at Julie. She was standing there, watching us, arms loosely crossed. "She reminds me so much of him," I said. "Yea," Tank said. "Like we need two Rangers." For a split second our eyes locked, like we were both thinking about something that was impossible and crazy, yet, was it? Nah, not possible.

I walked back over to Julie and said, "I need to talk to you." Julie's eyes widened and she said, "is something the matter with Dad?" "Well, we aren't exactly sure." I relayed as much as I felt comfortable telling Julie, and I reassured her that we would get him back. "I want to help," Julie said. "Ok," I said. Better for her to think this was her idea than us planting the seed that someone may be out to get her. "Let's get this package opened then," Julie said. She started to rip at the paper and I put my hand over hers, stopping her progress. "We are going to take this to Rangeman to see what we are dealing with first," I said. "What are we waiting for, let's go."

Tank, Julie and I loaded ourselves and the package into the van and headed for the Rangeman office. It was located about 20 minute away, but in Miami traffic that turned into almost an hour. We were down to 18 hours and we didn't even know what we were up against with this latest clue! We finally made it to the office and Tank carted the package down to the basement. A security team was going to sweep it and clear it of any hazards. Although if we just drove around for an hour with a bomb in our car, I really didn't want to know!

The security team cleared the package, and I did the honors of tearing it open. It was fairly small in size, about as large as a computer tablet. I carefully opened the box and peered inside. There was a note, along with a smaller box. I handed Tank the note and opened the small box. Inside was a single skeleton key, like the kind you see in old houses in the movies. Tank handed me the note and I read it aloud: "Roses are red and blood is too, find the lock for this key or your hero is through."

We all stared at each other open mouthed. How would we ever solve this?


	13. Chapter 13 - Ranger

02/17/2019

Ranger was so very tired. His shoulders ached and his hands were numb from the cuffs that still held his arms behind his back. The drugs were making it hard to hold his head upright, but he was fighting with all he had to stay awake. It had been 2 days since he'd had any food or water and it was starting to take its toll. He knew his team was out looking for him. Ranger just hoped they wouldn't be too late.

After all of the heinous situations he'd been in, it couldn't come down to a lone psycho. He wouldn't allow it. If it took his last breath Ranger would be sure to make this guy pay. He thought about all of the important people in his life, like Stephanie. He loved her as much as he was able. And there was no way he'd let anyone hurt her. He just had to clear his head so he could find a way out of here.

The door to the cabin was suddenly wrenched open and a gun was pointed at his face. "Make any wrong moves and this gun will be the last thing you see." Ranger was released from the chains on the chair and was dragged to his feet. "Walk." They walked out of the cabin with Ranger in the lead and the gun pointed at his back.

They walked along a rugged path that led to the entrance of the mine. Ranger was shoved into the opening. "What's your plan here?" Ranger asked. "You'll see. The game is almost over – for you anyway." It was completely dark except for the flashlight illuminating the path directly in front of them. "Watch your step. There's a lot of false floors in here, and one wrong step and you'll fall into the center of the Earth." They walked in what seemed like a zigzag pattern, making several turns and ducking into low and narrow tunnels before they came to what looked like a ventilation shaft covered by a wooden lid. With his eyes never leaving Ranger, he pried open the lid.

"I'm afraid this is where we part ways." "You'd better kill me first because there's no way I'm getting into that hole," Ranger said. The flashlight suddenly went out and before Ranger could blink he felt the needle jab into his neck…again. Ranger was down in a matter of minutes.

Ranger's cuffs and shackles were removed, and he was dragged to the edge of the shaft's opening. Ranger was given the last of the drugs and it wasn't a full dose so he wasn't totally unconscious. He was aware that he was going to be thrown into the opening and if he had any chance of survival, he needed to try and use the limited motor function that he had left to brace for the impact.

Ranger felt himself go over the edge, and he struggled to grab onto anything he could as he was falling. His fingers connected with the wall of rock and the wooden frame as he went down, but he was unable to get a handhold on anything. He tumbled maybe 20 feet before he landed hard on a rock ledge and lost consciousness.

The cover to the shaft was slid into place, and the lock was clicked closed. "Let's see you find you hero, now." And Ranger was left in the dark while his capturer whistled Last Man Standing as he made his way out into the daylight.


	14. Chapter 14 - Stephanie

02/17/2019

Do you ever get the feeling that time is standing still because you think that certainly what you are experiencing cannot be real life? That's exactly how I felt after reading the words to our next challenge. Our instructions are to "find the lock to this key." That's it. No hints, no idea of a location, nothing. Ranger's as good as dead with a clue like that. We didn't even know what type of key the lock opened – was it a storage locker, a door, a diary? I couldn't think, I couldn't see, I couldn't breath.

I hadn't even realized I was having a panic attack until I heard Tank say, "I think she's having a panic attack." "Breath, Steph, just breath." It was Julie's voice. Little Julie, the voice of reason. "Thanks," I said, waiting for my heart rate to return to below stroke level.

"Does anyone have any idea where to begin?" I asked. We were all huddled in one of the Rangeman conference rooms. "If he really wanted us to solve this, he'd give us more to go on." Sylvio had taken photos and a video of the key and was plugging it into websites to try and get a beat on the origin. It was a skeleton key, which meant it was designed to open numerous locks. That didn't help us at all.

"The origin of the key seems to date back to the late 1800's," Sylvio said. I've connected with a locksmith on a blog site I found and he claims to be somewhat of an expert on historical locks and keys. He's going to analyze the picture and get back to us with some more information. In the meantime, I found something on Jane. We know she was in a mental health facility for quite some time and we also know she left treatment about a year before she took over the firm. I was able to find the records of other patients who left within a year of Jane and came up with three names: Dave Morris, Jonathan Cross, and Teddy Gorcs. Any of those ring a bell?" Sylvio asked.

"No, not a one," I said. "Check all of them to see if they had any contact with Jane after she left treatment." Sylvio nodded and started hacking away at his keyboard. I looked over at Julie. "You doing ok?" I asked her. "Yes," she said. "I know that everything is going to be ok. If my dad doesn't kill this guy first, he's got both of us next in line." I smiled at her but secretly thought she was exactly right about that. I didn't usually harbor any hatred towards people, and I definitely didn't go around thinking about murdering them, but I know if I got my hands on a gun I'd pull the trigger on this guy.

A short while later, Sylvio's computer pinged, indicating he had received a message. "It's from the locksmith," Sylvio said. "Ok so this type of key is definitely late 1800's, and he's thinking it's around the 1880's. He can tell by some of the markings on the key. He thinks it may have been used with a padlock – he sent a photo of one from that era. He also says that the metals used to make the keys during that time period would have been found in the Eastern US, but that doesn't really mean anything unless we are to assume the lock is in the same area that it was fashioned." "Too big a stretch," I said. "So what does all of this tell us?" I asked. "Unfortunately not a whole lot other than we are looking for some type of padlock," Sylvio said. "Great," I said.

Sylvio continued to search the records on the released patients. "The first two patients, Dave and Jonathan are coming up clean," he said. "One lives out in California and the other one in Dallas. Both have families and seem to have steady work history, and I can't find any connection to Jane or her family. Now this Teddy Gorcs is interesting. I'm not finding any history on him prior to his release from the treatment facility. I don't see a driving license, prior work history, not even a rental application. Which makes me think that Teddy isn't really Teddy." My spidey senses started tingling big time. "Can you find a photo?" I asked. "Maybe there's a reason Teddy is trying to hide his true identity." "I'm on it," Sylvio said.

Tank was busy pacing the floor when he got a phone call. "Yea," Tank said. "Where?" he asked. "How far could you trace it? Ok thanks." Tank disconnected his phone and turned to us. "Our guys picked up the plate of the van that took Ranger on a security camera. They tagged it heading west on Interstate 66 and then they spotted it again on Interstate 81 south. That was the last they saw of the van so either it was ditched or they turned off. The task force that's been looking for Ranger is headed in that direction."

"About this lock and key thing," I said. "There's no way we would get a clue like that and be expected to find some random lock in some random location. This guy wants to play a game, but he doesn't want it to be impossible. He wants to win, but this is deeply personal for him I think. So what if Ranger is the lock and the key is this guy? Meaning that the only way we find Ranger is by finding the identity of the man who took him." I paused and looked over at Tank, Sylvio, and Julie. They were staring at Sylvio's computer screen and their faces had all turned white. "What?" I said.

"I was able to pull a photo of Teddy from the treatment center's records office," Sylvio said. "Let me see," I said. Sylvio turned the laptop towards me and I gasped. OH MY GOD. EDWARD SCROG?!


	15. Chapter 15 - Stephanie

02/17/2019

Cheers if you correctly guessed our villain! It was about time I actually said the name right? The only one IMO who could ever come close to going up against Ranger is Scrog. I'm ending this chapter with a (surprise) cliffie. Stay tuned to see if they find Ranger in time, it's going to be good. Happy reading!

I was speechless. We were all speechless. How could we have not seen this? There were clues everywhere, the least of which was that Scrog had been the only person to ever come close to challenging Ranger. But we all thought he was rotting away in a hospital somewhere, never to be seen or heard from again. Looking at his picture made my stomach cramp. Scrog had almost killed Ranger once before. The man had brains and skills and was capable of most anything. We were dealing with an entirely different ball game if Scrog was involved in Ranger's disappearance.

"Are you sure this is Teddy?" I asked Sylvio, my voice trembling as I spoke. "Yes," he said. "I double checked. Scrog must have been able to code his name in the records search programs, similar to what I do for Ranger all the time. We have several people that we track through automatic scans and we get reports when we get a hit. Gorcs would have never come up because we didn't know about it." Julie was shaking with anger, her fists balled up against her sides. "This wouldn't be happening if I had killed him when I shot him," she said. "Hey it's not your fault," I said to her, pulling her into a hug. "This is a big break for us because now we know who's involved." Trying to distract her, I noticed a shiny bracelet on her wrist. "That's a pretty bracelet," I said to her. "Thanks," Julie said. "Dad sent it to me." "Well he has great taste," I said. "Hey why don't you go into the kitchen and see if there's anything good for lunch." "Ok," Julie said, and she stood and left the room.

I turned back to Tank and Sylvio. "I'm still lost on how Scrog is connected to this whole thing, and more importantly, how we are going to find Ranger." "All we know is that Scrog took Ranger and he was last seen heading West in Virginia." "He would probably take him somewhere remote," Tank said, "somewhere that no one would think to look." "That's what we would do and we need to think like Scrog because unfortunately he operates like we do."

"So now that I know who I'm looking for," Sylvio said, "I'm getting some hits. It seems Scrog and Jane rented an apartment together in Arlington so they definitely have a connection." "Does the family own property anywhere in Virginia?" I asked him. "They own a lot of property all of the globe, but I'm not seeing anything in Virginia," Sylvio said.

"What does the family do again?" I asked. "The father is some big oil and gas tycoon, but the family has been in the fuel business for generations. They were part of some of the first oil and coal production companies," Sylvio said. I looked at my watch. 12 hours since we received our clue. 12 hour to find Ranger.

"Ok let's back up here," I said. "I'm having trouble piecing all of this together. So Scrog and Jane meet at Four Winds and I'm assuming Scrog charms Jane into starting a life together once they are on the outside. Now it was never intended for Scrog to be set free. He pled insanity to all of his charges and was sent to the treatment hospital. Now if Jane's family is as connected as any super wealthy family is, I'm betting they helped Scrog get out." "Yes, and then this whole time Scrog is thinking about getting his revenge against Ranger," Tank said. "Yes," I said. "I think he's been working on his master plan for quite possibly years. We know he's crazy and we know he thinks he should be Ranger so he would not take a chance at messing up again."

"I'm not sure where this game comes in though," Sylvio said. "Why not just kill him? And why bring you into this?" "I think Scrog is trying to prove something," I said. "He said "may the best man win" when I first spoke with him. I think he's trying to win the job of Ranger instead of just trying to take it like last time."

"So let's say all of this is true and the ultimate goal is for us to fail at finding Ranger and then Scrog gets to kill him," Sylvio said. "This last clue about the lock and key – I think Ranger is locked up somewhere and this key will set him free. Which means we need to find him fast." We all agreed. Time was running out.

"If we are to assume Scrog stayed in the area where he was last seen, then we need to focus on that, I said." "What's out in that area?" I asked. "Trees and forests and the Appalachian Mountains," Tank said. "Lots of back woods and places for someone to hide." This was getting frustrating. Scrog didn't do anything randomly – everything served a purpose and had meaning. Scrog was out to prove he was the best, but even the best have patterns.

"Scrog doesn't have anything of his own so I think wherever he is or whatever he's using to stash Ranger has been something that's connected to Jane's family," I said. "Sylvio, are there any cabins or lake houses or anything like that in the area?" "I haven't come across anything in the property search records, but I'll keep checking, Sylvio said." I turned back to Tank. "What else do you know about the area, is there anything else to note?" Tank thought for a minute and said, "I can't think of anything other than there was and still is a lot of mining done in those parts." I suddenly had a flashback to the dream I had – I remember it being very dark and I was surrounded by rock and gravel. I was two parts freaked out and excited because I knew in my gut this was our break.

Tank and I looked at each other. "Sylvio!" we both shouted at the same time. "Check to see if the family owns or owned any land used for mining," I said. Sylvio tapped away at his computer and within a few minutes he said, "Bingo. The family never owned land in that area, but they were responsible for a large coal mining operation in Tazewell County. The mine closed down in the 50's, but the remnants are still there." "It would be an ideal spot to hold a prisoner," I said. "Out of the way and impossible to find." Tank jumped up and said "I'll get the flight plans ordered and get us back to Virginia ASAP." Sylvio said, "I'll download maps of the area and see if I can get any schematics on the mining tunnels. It's a big place so we'll need some direction if possible."

This was it, I felt certain of it. We were coming to get Ranger. Hold on Ranger, I thought, just hold on.


	16. Chapter 16

02/19/2019

**Note: This is the longest chapter yet, but hopefully it's worth it. One more cliffie in store for all you, but stick with me. Happy reading!

Ranger moaned and slowly opened his eyes. At least he thought his eyes were open. It was so dark it was hard to tell. He had first awakened after the fall and couldn't remember where he was or what happened. I must have been out for a while, Ranger thought, because the fog seemed to have cleared from his head even though he was left with a monster of a headache. For the first time in several days, he was free of the mind numbing drugs that had kept him sedated and unable to function.

Well this is just great, Ranger thought. Now that my mind is clear, I'm trapped in a hole with no light and no idea how to get out of here. He thought he was in a mine shaft, but the ledge he was sitting on was so small that one wrong move and it would be permanent lights out. So he didn't want to do much exploring.

He tried to stand and sucked in some air as his ribs roared in protest. Cracked ribs hurt like a bitch, he thought. Ranger limped carefully along the ledge, trying to feel for anything – a rope, a ladder, a handhold. Nothing. Where the hell was his team? Surely they would have picked up something by now, right? What he didn't want to think about was that he didn't even pick up on Scrog. So if Ranger didn't have a beat on him, was it possible that the others didn't either?

Ranger had been in a lot of precarious situations. He'd been captured, tortured, and left to die in places that only exist in our nightmares. This one ranked right up there as the worst. Cold, alone, and in totally darkness, Ranger was doing his best to stay in the zone. The-don't panic-zone. The-you will find a way out of this-zone. Ranger closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. And sat down to wait.

Tank, Sylvio, Julie, and I were all on a plane bound for Virginia. We were headed into a small airport in Tazewell County and from there we would meet up with the rest of the task force and discuss the plan. Sylvio had been able to download some information about the terrain, and he was going over everything with Tank. Julie was asleep. I felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin I was so anxious. I didn't like the thought of Julie being anywhere near Scrog, but I also didn't like the idea of her being alone and unprotected in Miami. So in the end, we took her with us.

We landed in record time and met up with Hal and the other men who had been boots on ground searching for Ranger. The mining camp was located in a remote area about two hours from the closest town. There was one way in and one way out. Not ideal if you were planning a sneak attack. I suspected that Scrog would have convinced himself that we would never find them. I hoped he wasn't too far away though because I wanted to be there when he took his last breath.

"What's the plan?" I asked. "We're about three hours away from the location of the camp, and we plan to move in tonight," Tank said. "Cutting it close to our 24 hour deadline," I said to him. "Yea," Tank said. "But it's better to go in at night. The mine will be pitch black no matter the time of day. You and Julie will wait here while we go in." "The hell I will!" I yelled. "Ranger will kill us if anything happens to you," Hal said, "especially if it's in exchange for his rescue." "I'm right in the middle of this and we don't even know if the game is over," I said. "Besides, I think it's safer if we all stick together. We know Scrog is capable of most anything. I'm going. End of story." Tank and Hal looked at each other. "Now that that's settled," I said, "when do we leave?"

Ranger was losing it. Sitting in the dark with no sound and nothing but his thoughts to keep him company was driving him over the edge. He kept hearing things – whispers of voices, then laughter, then crying. He swore he felt something brush against his leg. I can't wait much longer, he thought, or I'll be as crazy as Scrog. He closed his eyes and tried to picture Stephanie. Please Babe, he thought, find me before I have to do something desperate.

It was dark and we were on the road. Our car was in the middle of the parade as we made our way into the mining camp. It was close to 1 a.m. Two hours to find Ranger. We parked and everyone got out. "The entrance to the mine should be up and over this hill," Tank said. "There's a cabin close by and we'll first do a sweep to be sure he's not in there. We've got flak vests, flashlights, and night vision goggles for everyone. I'm also giving you a communication earpiece." He handed me a small wired ear bud and a radio. "We are all on the same channel so you'll be able to talk to us and hear everything that's going on," he said. "And Steph." Tank handed me a gun. "Shoot to kill," he said.

Julie was going to stay in the car with some of Ranger's men until we knew the coast was clear. I knelt down and hugged her and told her we would be back soon. "Don't forget the key," she said as she placed it into my palm. The key! I hadn't even thought of it. "Good thinking, Julie," I said. I pocketed the key and made my way over to Tank.

The men loaded rope, climbing gear and other various equipment onto their shoulders and we made our way up the hill. We spotted the cabin and Tank and I stayed behind while the other men silently moved in. It was eerily quiet up here and very dark. I looked through the goggles and saw nothing but rock all around us. No Scrog.

We got word that the cabin was clear so we made our way down the hill. We entered the cabin and saw a chair in the corner with a length of discarded chain strewn across the ground. "Think that's where Scrog was keeping Ranger?" I asked. "Yes," one of the men said. "We found another syringe on the floor like the one that was left back in Arlington so it seems he was keeping him drugged." I looked at my watch. 2 a.m. One hour to find Ranger.

We left the cabin and made our way to the entrance to the mine. According to Sylvio's schematics, there were a series of tunnels that wound through 2 miles of earth. We would have to split up into groups of two. One team would go left as many times as they could, while another team would go right. Tank and I would stay straight. We were about to go in when one of the men spotted a device on the wall. "Is that what I think it is?" I asked. Sure enough, there was a bomb strapped to the entrance with a countdown clock. 45 minutes left. 45 minutes to 3 a.m. We synched our watches to the clock so that we'd know how much time we had to get the hell out. My heart was pounding so loud I could hardly hear anything else. "We've go to move now," Tank said, taking my hand and running into the mine. Please be here, I prayed silently.

Ranger had made up his mind. He was going to try and blindly climb up the wall. If he died trying then he died trying. It was better than sitting here waiting to die and going mad in the process. He carefully stood. And put his boot to the wall.

Tank and I made our way through the tunnels, while the other men paired up and split off. We could hear them as they cleared different areas, no one finding anything. "Watch your step," Tank said. "Be sure to only step on solid ground. If you see planks, jump over them." We were racing through the tunnels with most of the turns winding up as dead ends. I looked at my watch. 30 minutes left. We were yelling Ranger's name as we got deeper into the mine. 20 minutes left.

Ranger had one foot off the ground when he thought he heard someone call his name. Probably just hearing things again, he thought. He went to take another step, and he heard it again. He stopped and listened closely. He was sure he heard it this time. Was that Stephanie? "Here!" Ranger yelled. "Down here!"

Tank and I were near the back of the mine and there were two paths left. 15 minutes left. Barely enough time to get out the way we came. "We have to split up, there's not enough time to go though both paths. You go left and I'm going right," I said. As I rounded the corner, I was still calling Ranger's name. I heard a faint sound. As I moved further into the tunnel, the voice became clearer. "Ranger!" I said. "Down here!" Ranger said. I shined my light on a wooden lid and there was the lock I'd been looking for. Thanks to Julie, I produced the key from my pocket, turned the lock, and threw open the lid. There, in all his disheveled glory, was Ranger.

"Tank I found him!" I yelled into the earpiece. Ranger was down about 20 feet. "Babe!" he said. "What took you so long?" "No time," I said. "There's a bomb that's been set to go off in – I looked at my watch – 10 minutes." Tank rounded the corner with the rope he was carrying. He secured one side around a large beam and threw the other side down into the hole. "Do you think you can scale the rope or do I need to pull you out?" Tank asked. Ranger was already climbing the rope before Tank finished speaking. He got to the top in record time and was panting and holding his side, but he was standing. I had never been so happy to see him. I threw my arms around him and he grunted in pain and wrapped his arms around me. Tank radioed the rest of the men to confirm we had Ranger and told them to exit the mine immediately. "We've gotta go – NOW!" Tank said. 8 minutes.

We flat out ran as fast as we could through the tunnels, Tank in the lead, me in the middle, Ranger bringing up the rear. He was limping, but keeping pace with us. I suspected that he was running on pure adrenaline and nothing could stand in his way. "How much time?" Ranger asked. "2 minutes," Tank said.

We came to a section where we had to crawl on hands and knees. I've never crawled so fast in my life. I heard Ranger stop behind me. "What's wrong?" I asked. "My shoe is caught," Ranger said. I turned to Tank. "Go – we are right behind you." I crawled back to Ranger and wiggled at his shoe until it came loose from the rock. 15 seconds.

We scurried out of the tunnel and ran towards the entrance. We were getting closer. 10 seconds. I could see the entrance. 5 seconds. We were almost there. 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second.


	17. Chapter 17

02/20/2019

Scrog was watching from his hideout. He checked his watch. 30 seconds till blastoff. He was excited. No way they were getting out of this one. He was angry they even made it this far, but he had to give them credit for that. No matter, he thought, it was going to end here. And if they somehow managed to escape the mine, Scrog had one more surprise up his sleeve.

Ranger grabbed my hand and we sprinted as fast as we could out of the entrance to the mine. The countdown clock blurred as we ran past. I saw it hit 1 second and for a moment I thought, this is it. It all comes down to a second. Rex is about to be an orphan. Ranger jerked me to the left of the entrance, pushed me down, and threw himself on top of me just as the explosion rocketed through the camp, sending flying shards of rock everywhere. He covered my head with his hands to shield me from the debris. We lay there for what seemed like forever, trying to catch our breath.

Ranger rolled off me and looked me up and down. "Are you ok babe?" he asked, concern filling his eyes. "I'm ok," I said. I looked at Ranger. He had a cut over his left eyebrow and the side of his face was streaked with blood. He had superficial cuts on his arms, and I could see a gash near his ribcage. "You look terrible," I said. He ignored me, and we got to our feet. "Where is he?" Ranger asked Tank.

"We haven't seem him, but we are sweeping the area," Tank said. We found a car nearby so he's out there somewhere." "Probably watching the whole thing," Ranger said. "When I get my hands on him, he's going to wish he blew himself up in that explosion." I knew Ranger meant every word he said.

Scrog couldn't believe what he was seeing. They actually made it out? How the hell did they find him in time? He ran that route many times and could never come close to making it out that fast. He was on the verge of becoming completely unhinged as he gripped his hair with his fingers and clenched his teeth. Scrog couldn't lose this game, he had to come out on top. It was his destiny. He was born to be Ranger. Scrog pulled something out of his pocket and made his way down towards the camp.

We saw Julie coming up the hill with two Rangeman guys. Ranger gave me a puzzled look. "It's a long story," I said. "Julie?" Ranger said. "Hi," Julie said. "Are you ok?" she asked. "Yes," Ranger said, giving her a hug. "I hate that you were dragged into this. Your mother is going to kill me." "It's ok," Julie said, "I wanted to be here to help."

"Good to see you Julie," a voice said. We all turned, and there was Scrog, standing with something in his hand. 10 guns were immediately aimed at his head as he was surrounded by Ranger's men. "Ah ah ah, I would tell them to back off if I were you," Scrog said. "Tell me why I shouldn't snap your neck myself," Ranger said. Scrog ignored Ranger and turned to Julie and said "You're looking well, Julie." Julie didn't answer. "That's a really nice bracelet you're wearing." "My father gave it to me," Julie said. "The REAL Ranger." Ranger slowly turned his head back to Julie and said, "I didn't give you that bracelet."

"You see," Scrog said, "every good bounty hunter always has a backup plan. You really should have more than one backup plan. Julie is my insurance policy. The bracelet is actually an explosive device that was armed the minute she clipped it to her wrist." Julie didn't move, didn't blink. "I'm holding a dead man's switch so you better tell your boys to lower their weapons. I'd hate for us to have an accident." Ranger signaled to his men, and they dropped their guns. "Now I know it was a big risk," Scrog said. "If she had taken it off it would have been bye bye Julie, but I had a feeling this would work out exactly the way I had planned." Ranger's face was devoid of expression, his breathing was even, but his hands were balled into fists at his side and his eyes were dilated black.

"There's one last puzzle you need to solve, though I don't think this one will be easy. If you look carefully, you'll see a little panel that you can remove from the bracelet. Inside the panel is a 4 digit numerical keypad. You get one shot to guess the correct code. Enter it incorrectly, you all die. Try to get it off, you all die. Try to stop me, you all die."

Scrog smiled as he slowly backed away. "I have done nothing but think of how I would destroy you since we last met. I have finally proven my worth. I will declare victory and the true Ranger is now mine!" "Let him go," Ranger said through clenched teeth. Everyone turned back to Julie. I couldn't do it. Scrog was not going to get away with this.

As Ranger, Tank, and the others gathered around Julie, I slipped away into the darkness to follow Scrog. At the top of the hill Ranger and I locked eyes. He gave one small nod of his head and turned back to Julie.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do other than follow Scrog. I was far enough away that he couldn't hear my footsteps, but I was worried he would get into his car and drive away, and we would be back to square one. I lost sight of him and then he was suddenly in front of me, smiling his crazy smile.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Are you coming to join the real Ranger?" "Yes," I said. "You didn't treat me so well last time," Scrog said. "I was confused," I said. "Now I know what I really want, and I only want to be with you." If I wasn't careful, I was going to vomit right here on his shoes. The lies I could come up with sometimes floored me.

"Anyone who can come up with a plan this elaborate deserves to have me by his side," I said. "If the fake Ranger loves me, then surely I'm a good prize, right?" Scrog stared at me, trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. He looked past me, back towards the camp. "I didn't hear anything explode yet, but we have to wait until we know for sure that I've won," he said. Scrog sat down on a rock, being careful to keep his finger on the trigger. "Maybe we should just blow them up now," Scrog said. "No!" I said. "I mean, well that wouldn't really be fair, and one thing I know about you is that you are fair. All the great bounty hunters are fair." "True," Scrog said. I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

I wasn't sure what I was doing here. If Ranger couldn't diffuse the bomb then I would be stuck with Scrog, and I had no idea how I would get away. Suddenly I heard a sound in my ear. I had forgotten all about the earpiece I was wearing. The words "We got it" rang through my ear. Scrog heard it too and lunged for me, but not before I pulled the gun that Tank had given me out of the back of my pants and shot Scrog five times in his cold, black heart.


	18. Chapter 18

02/20/2019

As soon as the shots were fired, Ranger and his men were running in my direction. I still held the gun, though I wasn't aware that my finger was still on the trigger. I sank to my knees, the reality of the last several days finally catching up with me. Ranger reached me first and knelt down. He gently pried the gun from my hand and pulled me into his arms. "I'm so proud of you babe," he said. Two days worth of tears were running down my face by now. Ranger wiped my tears with his fingertips and said, " I'm ok. You're ok. Julie's ok. All because of you."

"How did you crack the code?" I asked him. "I knew it was something related to me and after running through all of the scenarios, we figured it could only be one thing: 1024." "Today's date?" I asked him. "Not just today's date," Ranger said. "10/24 was the day Scrog first saw me. It was the day I captured the FTA where Scrog worked." "So Scrog planned all of this to go down on the anniversary of when you first made contact?" I asked. "Yes," Ranger said. "It's like it was a re-birth day or something to him. Twisted to his core" "Well now it's his death day," I said.

Ranger's men were given instructions to dispose of Scrog's body. If I were to guess I'd say he ended up in a hole similar to the one we pulled Ranger from. Julie was escorted back to Miami by two of Ranger's men. True to form, she seemed completely unfazed and was already getting her story ready to tell her friends at school. I loved that kid.

Ranger insisted that he was physically fine and refused to get checked out at the local hospital. We cleaned his wounds and taped his ribs and got him water and food. We drove back to Jersey in a fleet car with Tank at the wheel, Hal in the passenger seat, and Ranger and I in the back. Ranger was asleep as soon as we pulled onto the Interstate, his head in my lap while I stroked his hair.

I must have fallen asleep too because the next thing I knew, Ranger was gently shaking me awake. He asked if I wanted to be driven home. I didn't, and I told him I wanted to stay. We rode the elevator up to the seventh floor and collapsed onto the bed. Truth was, I wasn't ready to leave Ranger. And I don't think he was ready for me to leave him.

I stayed with Ranger for the next several days, knowing that sooner or later I would go back to my apartment and life would go back to normal. Whatever normal was. Ranger didn't sleep much those first few nights. I'd awaken to him thrashing and moaning in his sleep, and he'd suddenly jerk awake breathless, sweating, heart pounding. I'd just hold his hand and snuggle into him until the trembling stopped and sleep came to him. He didn't talk about it, but I suspect he was dreaming of the dark, dreaming of falling, dreaming of Scrog. Scrog was dead. He may still live in our nightmares from time to time, but he would never again be part of our future.

I suppose I've learned a thing or two about myself. I am smart. I am tenacious. I am a brave badass when I want to be. And I will do anything to protect the man I love. I am Stephanie Plum.

Oh, and I make one hell of a peanut butter and olive sandwich. Am I righteous or what?!

**Note: Thanks so much for reading my first story. I loved all of your comments and it kept me motivated to continue writing. If you can't tell, I am team Ranger all the way and if there's ever an ending to the series I hope Steph and Ranger end up together. Also, if you haven't already, I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook versions of the Plum series (Lorelei King's readings). It brings the characters to life in a way that you'll never get from just reading the books (I typically do both - read and listen). Hope you enjoyed this read! EW


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